Lucian is a tiny

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

that is located in the northeastern part of the

Mare Tranquillitatis Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin for Sea of Tranquillity or Sea of Tranquility) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It contains Tranquility Base, the first location on another celestial body to be visited by huma ...

. It was named in 1973 after 2nd century Greek writer

Lucian Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...

of Samosata. The nearest named craters are Lyell to the east-southeast,

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

to the northeast and

Gardner Gardner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gardner (given name) *Gardner (surname) Places United States * Gardner, Colorado *Gardner, Illinois *Gardner, Kansas *Gardner, Massachusetts * Gardner, North Dakota * Gardner, Tennessee * Ga ...

to the north-northeast. A little farther to the north is

Maraldi crater Maraldi may refer to: * Maraldi (lunar crater) * Maraldi (Martian crater) * Mons Maraldi, a mountain on the Moon * Maraldy (lake), Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan People with the surname * Giacomo Filippo Maraldi (1665–1729), French-Italian astron ...

. Lucian was previously designated Maraldi B. This is a circular, cone-shaped formation with a negligible interior floor. It has not been significantly degraded by impact erosion.

References

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External links

{{Commons category
Layers in Lucian Crater
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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric Polar orbit, polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic ...

page and image Impact craters on the Moon